Makeshift DIY Rake For Composting Weeds Made Of A Scavenged BBQ Grill Sardine Can And Bamboo Pole

Out here in the desert, over the last few years I hadn't needed a rake for much of anything other than smoothing out hand dug earth works and moving small rocks. I was able to make a bit of a leveling tool with a bamboo pole attached to an old chair cushion metal spring box. However this last winter, there were more rain events than previous years which led to an amazing array of wild flowers and other herbaceous plants. Most of them are annuals, barely able to produce seeds before the devastating heat arrives. Therefore most of them have already started drying out and dying. This will be the first time I'll have a considerable amount of organic matter with which to create my first non-imported, native compost. To that end, I needed to make shift a do-it-yourself rake for the first time. I had recently scavenged a rusted old BBQ grill from the wasteland which I had set aside for this purpose. It was rusted off such that it already appeared like the teeth of a rake. I just sandwiched it with two 2x4s to give it extra sturdiness and to create an attachment point for a hand. My go to material for handles is my pile of bamboo poles. I was able to attach the bamboo pole handle to the 2x4s with the peeled top of a sardine can and some screes. This makes for a sort of brace that secures the pieces together.

It's not the most impressive thing I've ever built, however it gets the job done and has character and charm. It will be a blessing if it holds up and allows me to gather up a lot of the dead plant material and put it to a higher purpose in a compost pit.